Because of the recent changes in the regulation of the telephone industry, an increasing number of customers or subscribers are purchasing their own telephone equipment rather than leasing telephone sets from telephone companies. Telephone companies, however, normally do not service the equipment which is privately owned by a subscriber, thus making the subscriber responsible for the repair of the privately owned telephone equipment.
This situation gives rise to a problem in that none of the subscriber telephone circuits known to applicant is equipped or designed to enable an inexperienced person to determine whether a malfunction is due to a fault in the telephone company's facilities or a fault in the privately owned telephone equipment. The subscriber may therefore pay for a needless service call by the telephone company's repairman where the repairman finds that the trouble is in the subscriber's privately owned equipment.
In accordance with this invention, the foregoing problem is overcome by the provision of a novel test jack which is located on the subscriber's premises and which is connected intermediate the telephone company's telephone line and the subscriber's privately owned telephone equipment. Preferably, the test jack is wired into the subscriber circuit at the point of connection between the subscriber's equipment and the telephone company's facility. Switching contacts in the test jack normally connect the telephone company's telephone line to the subscriber's telephone equipment.
To conduct a test, an available, conventional telephone set having a line cord plug is plugged into the test jack. The test jack's contacts are operated by the line cord plug to connect the telephone used in the test to the telephone company's line and to disconnect the entire circuit on the subscriber's side of the test jack from the telephone company's line, thereby electrically isolating the telephone company's facility from the telephone equipment that may be causing the malfunction.
If the user receives the dial tone and is able to dial into the telephone company's central office upon plugging the test telephone into the test jack, then the malfunction is in the subscriber's privately owned telephone equipment or circuit connections. If no dial tone is received and the trouble remains on line after plugging the test telephone into the test jack, then the fault is in the telephone company's line or facility to warrant a call to the telephone company for service. This simple test thus enables a person to determine whether a malfunction is in the subscriber's equipment or in the telephone company's facility to save the cost of a service call by the telephone company's repairman in the event that the trouble is in the subscriber's privately owned equipment.
Advantageously, the test jack of this invention is designed to accept the standard, FCC (Federal Communication Commission) approved line cord plug which is on all FCC approved telephone sets. Available telephone sets on a subscriber's premises usually meet this requirement and are therefore usable in the test with the test jack of this invention. The test, of course, will be indeterminate if the telephone set used in the test is out of order. However, most households and other premises have two or more telephone sets, and the chances of all available sets being faulty are nil. Furthermore, a working telephone may be borrowed from a neighbor to conduct the test.
In new or future installations, the point of connection between the telephone company's facility or line and the subscriber's privately owned equipment is likely to be at the on-premise lightening-arresting station protector or an on-premise terminal strip. In such installations, the test jack of this invention is advantageously located at the subscriber's side of the station protector or terminal strip. The test jack may be built into the station protector. Alternatively, it can be an independent unit for connection at the appropriate place as an add-on module.
From the foregoing summary it will be appreciated that the test jack of this invention affords a quick and easy test to determine whether a malfunction is on the subscriber's side of the test jack or the telephone company's side of the test jack without requiring the use of any special testing tools and also without requiring any technical knowledge about telephone circuits.
Furthermore, the test jack of this invention provides a readily accessible test point for servicemen, eliminating the need to remove terminals and lift wiring, and to thereafter re-terminate the wiring and to replace the wiring if the wiring breaks upon removal.
With the foregoing in mind, the general aim and purpose of this invention is to provide a novel test jack facility for enabling a person to determine whether a malfunction is in the telephone company's facility or the subscriber's privately owned equipment without requiring the use of any equipment other than an available, conventional telephone set.
A more specific object of this invention is to provide a novel test jack located in a subscriber'scircuit between the telephone company's line and the subscriber's telephone equipment and having plug-operated switching contacts for connecting a test telephone to the telephone line and also for disconnecting the subscriber's telephone equipment from the line to isolate the line from the entire circuit on the subscriber's side of the test jack.
Further objects of this invention will appear as the description proceeds in connection with the appended claims and the below-described drawings.